General Limewire troubles in Linux

Ok, i'm running LimeWire 2.7.3 on a Mandrake 9.0 Linux desktop w/ a DSL connection split with a D-Link di604 router. As of now, I have modified my system in the following ways.

Forwarded port 6346 from the router's firewall to the computer's local ip address.

Now, with this done uploads seem to have resumed functioning, but, for some reason, and i couldn't even guess at it, it seems when i'm uploading files, or generally when the hosts are trying to reconnect, the rest of my internet comes to a halt, no pages load, no connectivity at all, accept for limewire. without the port enabled uploads didnt work properly. and in either configuration dowloads are spotty at best, generally jumping straight to the "Waiting 200s for requery" and never even getting to the server. I'm sure this isn't the best request for help, but i'm really getting frustrated with this. It works, but .... well.... not like i think it's supposed to.

also, on a side note, when searching for files, should you be able to see files you yourself are sharing? if not is there anyway to make that happen so i could do a little more personal troubleshooting to see if my files are visable and attainable by users.